iI recently finished the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hildebrand who wrote "Seabiscuit". It is the true story of a man named Louis Zamperini who would have been one of the most famous distance runners in history were it not for WWII interrupting his rise. He was an exceptional athlete who became a bombadier during the war. Crash landed in the Pacific and endured many months at sea where he almost died; only to then be captured by the Japanese and forced to live in a series of prison camps where he was given the harshest treatment one can imagine. It boggles the mind to read about such cruelties. I can't stop thinking about it.

iI recently finished the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hildebrand who wrote "Seabiscuit". It is the true story of a man named Louis Zamperini who would have been one of the most famous distance runners in history were it not for WWII interrupting his rise. He was an exceptional athlete who became a bombadier during the war. Crash landed in the Pacific and endured many months at sea where he almost died; only to then be captured by the Japanese and forced to live in a series of prison camps where he was given the harshest treatment one can imagine. It boggles the mind to read about such cruelties. I can't stop thinking about it.

I believe that the Pacific War was much more brutal, cruel and inhumane than the European theatre.

Even AFTER the concentration camps were discovered. What the Japanese did to the Chinese and Filipinos was equivalent.....and quite a bit more brutal. However, these were matters of actions visited upon civilian populations. I was refering to the war itself.....IOW, the actual fighting between the soldiers.

It is estimated that 6 million Jews were killed in the "final solution" Chinese deaths (mostly civilian) are estimated between 15-22 million.

In many of the Japanese POW camps the person in charge was a misfit who could not fit in with the regular army because of anti-social and psychotic behaviour. Their fondness for cruelty to their prisoners was unmatched. The worst possible debasement and torture. I would never make light of the German extermination practices; the world has seen those atrocities. But the stuff some of the American and allied troops suffered in these POW camps was almost worse than death. And it has been largely overlooked by historians. Or maybe I just have not been exposed to it prior to reading the book.

Ranking the worst atrocities is a bit like ranking the best music or musician (except for the obvious differences) which is to say, a fool's errand.Limited (reading) exposure to the raping of Nanking was enough to give me nightmares and to seek no further study of it.

I would highly recommend renting and watching "The Great Raid" to anyone with an interest in the Pacific War.When it became apparant that America was going to win the war in the Pacific, the order went out from the Japanese high command that all American POW's were to be slaughtered. Most of the survivors of the Bataan death march were kept at the POW camp at Cabanatuan. The Great Raid is the true story of the attempt by the American special forces to rescue them before they were murdered. My wife and I went to see it when it was released. You could tell by age that most everyone there were vets of WWII. By the time it ended, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Ranking the worst atrocities is a bit like ranking the best music or musician (except for the obvious differences) which is to say, a fool's errand.Limited (reading) exposure to the raping of Nanking was enough to give me nightmares and to seek no further study of it.

I disagree........only by studying, .and thoroughly understanding, our past mistakes do we lessen the probability of repeating them. The 1st book in Churchill's series on WWII "The Gathering Storm" presents us with a very strong case for the proposition that had we learned from the past, the second world war could have been avoided. After all....wasn't the first world war called"The War to End All Wars?"

I disagree........only by studying, .and thoroughly understanding, our past mistakes do we lessen the probability of repeating them. The 1st book in Churchill's series on WWII "The Gathering Storm" presents us with a very strong case for the proposition that had we learned from the past, the second world war could have been avoided. After all....wasn't the first world war called"The War to End All Wars?"

No, I'm not saying others shouldn't study it. Just that I personally don't have the stomach for it.

I don't care to study Viet Nam in the same way as NanKing anymore. But I have much more to learn about the history of mankind and the atrocities committed. As well as the men who rose up to stop the aggressors.

I don't care to study Viet Nam in the same way as NanKing anymore. But I have much more to learn about the history of mankind and the atrocities committed. As well as the men who rose up to stop the aggressors.

Danny...it's not always "aggressors" who cause the problems. Here's how Abraham Lincoln explained it (he obviously understood the fall of the Roman Empire which, by the way, precipitated the Dark Ages)

"....“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”

― Abraham Lincoln

Unfortunately, it seems those seeds of national suicide have already been sown. I am not optimistic.